That night.
While most people had gone to the nightlife event—something suggested by Ansel—Althea was at home bonding with her children.
She had never been fond of the nightlife, especially not now that she had children.
On the other hand, Sheila, Harold, and even Eugene were pulled in by their work teams. Althea had asked them to take some profit from the shops and treat the staff, as a belated celebration for the opening of many of her shops.
The children were already in their bedrooms at this time, and though Maya had tried very hard to come with the adults, a little bedtime story got her snoring within a few minutes.
Her babies though, were still full of energy because they had a good nap earlier in the day.
But it was fine. She wanted to spend more time with them, anyway.
She watched smilingly as her son rolled around the cot while her daughter tried endlessly to reach for the ceiling.
"Silly babies…" she said with a chuckle.
"I wonder where they got it from." A new voice sounded behind her, and she turned her head to see a warmly smiling Ansel, who rested his weight against the door jamb.
It had probably been a while since he started watching them.
"You're already here?" Althea asked, surprised. He was the one who was organizing the event after all.
"It's all set up," Ansel said with a shrug, sitting down next to her on the carpeted floor.
"I found I've grown out of that phase." He said, shrugging. Though he really had his fun and women, nothing beats a relaxing night at home with family.
He had already lost too many loved ones, and he had long left that phase of his life.
He turned to look at the utterly adorable babies on the cot, and he couldn't help but poke the nearby Meatball's chubby cheeks.
"Mngwwaa" Little Meatball babbled, drooling, his cute eyebrows furrowed a bit.
"Yes, I think you're handsome too."
Althea laughed. "Well, it's good that you thought of a party though. Everyone needed a good place to just… let it go. Safely and in a fun way."
"Well, citizen happiness is also important in those infrastructure games I used to play." He said, winking, and Althea giggled again.
Ansel smiled as he turned his attention back to the babies, and they played who rolled better and other tiring (dizzying) games until they fell asleep.
Very proud of 'lulling' the children to sleep, he turned to look at Althea, who was looking outside the window, deep in thought.
The light of the two moons–one reddish, one bluish—combined to give her face a different sort of illumination.
Althea was as beautiful as always.
With deep eyes, Ansel settled the babies before standing up and sitting closely beside her. "What's the matter?"
Althea didn't speak for a while before sighing. "I just got a report from Rowan that the monsters outside are no more than level 3—which were relatively uncommon to encounter in the first place.
"Even Drake has stagnated to level 5."
Next to her, Drake was the strongest Terran. The fact that he stagnated meant that everyone else probably would as well.
"I'm worried. I'm worried that the monsters outside would be shockingly strong. What level would the monsters outside be? What level of mobs do we have to face after the protection period?"
Ansel couldn't help but recall the horrors of their first arrival. The lifting of the protection likely meant they would experience that again, maybe even worse.
It made his heart drop to his stomach.
"The NPCs… they're all at least level 15, and they had no haughtiness in them at all. Like, it was a normal level at their age."
Ansel frowned.
This was, indeed, worrisome.
"I am wondering how to further increase our level before the Protection Period ends." Although the guards have been hunting around, she received reports that most of the mobs were level 1s and 2s.
"Such weak mobs are not conducive to their level-up. A lot of people have stagnated."
She, herself, didn't even bother going out anymore. She would just tire herself for a little experience.
Ansel looked at her in amusement. She was worrying about this issue so much. While correct and valid, he knew other territories were still worrying about how to deal with the current mobs.
If other territories heard her concerns, they would definitely band together and hate on her.
He sighed and stretched his hands in the air, placing them behind his back. "Even if the highest level is level 3, I wonder if there's a way to call a mob of them."
At least, they could upgrade by quantity. It was better than nothing.
.
.
However, just as he said this, the light of idea simultaneously passed through their heads. They paused and looked at each other.
It seemed… that there really was a way to get these beasts to attack her?
A Beast Tide.
The one that came with an upgrade.
Althea paused. It seemed she still had to aim to level up, after all.
She opened her Lord tab and looked closely at the territory Stats.
[TERRITORY STATS
Status: Level 2 Village
Area: 3,142,000 square meters
Residents: 1002 (188 permanent, 814 temporary)
Total Population: 1997
Base Resources:
Wood: 9500/10000
Stone: 8200/8000
Money: 15591 Gold, 112963 Silver, 469497 copper
Reputation: 110
Buildings: Village Center (Lv2) , Weaponry Shop (Lv1), Defensive Wall (Lv3), Warehouse (Lv2), Farm (Lv1) , Training Hall (Lv1), BathHouse (Lv1)
Bonus Building: Custom Building
Building Slots: 7/7 (+1)]
There was no indicator of what population needed to upgrade. However, based on some stories from the NPCs as well as the requirements of the previous upgrade, she could surmise that it was probably 1000 residents and around 3000 fixed population for 3 consecutive days.
If so, then although the number of residents had met the standard, the population itself still lacked a thousand.
"The problem is that our location is quite far from others. We were also established quite late, most people had already settled in the nearest territories by the time we were built."
Althea then looked at Ansel and finally spoke about an issue she had been ruminating about for a while. "I have something I want to try, but I'll need your assistance on this."
Ansel straightened up. Will he finally be able to help?
She nodded.
Ansel was among the first group of newcomers who were not really refugees, but rather immigrants from other territories. This inspired her on what she could do next.
Anyway, from what she heard, a lot of these territories weren't very good.
"Tell me!" Ansel said, a little antsy, and she smiled slyly at him.
"Since people have already settled down…," She paused, "Then we'll just have to attract them here, won't we?"